April 29 marks International Dance Day and who does dance better than our favourite Bollywood stars. However, hours of practise go behind those perfect movements and choreographers literally pour their sweat and blood into the performances.
Compiled from Hindustan Times, here is a list of five renowned Bollywood choreographers who recount their toughest songs to date.
1. Saroj Khan – Dola Re (Devdas, 2002)
“When I heard the audio of Dola Re Dola (featuring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit), I felt it was not good, and felt the lack of dance in it. I told Sanjay Leela Bhansali [director], ‘You have so many good songs in your film. Why are you using this?’ To this, he replied, “You start composing but if you still don’t think it’s up to the mark, we will change the song,'” Khan said.
She added that composing the steps was quite a feat and the movements were very difficult. However, Dola Re went onto become one of the most iconic songs in Indian cinema.
2. Ahmed Khan – Jumme ki Raat (Kick, 2014)
For Ahmed Khan choreographing Salman Khan was the biggest pressure.
“Salman is known to give at least one hit track in each of his films. I had not worked much with him before. Kick was also Sajid Nadiadwala’s debut as a director. And to top it, the song was being compared to Amitabh Bachchan’s superhit Jumma Chumma.”
“I didn’t make Salman just put his hands in pockets or move his biceps; I made him go all out,” he added.
3. Ashley Lobo – Nadaan Parindey (Rockstar, 2011)
Lobo recalled, “The song was the finale of Rockstar and we were shooting for it with Ranbir Kapoor in Hyderabad with a stadium full of people. We had to work with an uncontrollable crowd of almost 5,000 people. We had to keep the crowd occupied throughout the night, and keep the timing of the cameras right. 16 of my assistant were flying around the place to manage them.”
4. Marzi Pestonji – Dhoom Again (Dhoom 2, 2006)
Pestonji commented that the Dhoom Again was the toughest song for him because “when you have Hrithik Roshan dancing in front of you, you get pressured anyway.”
5. Ganesh Hedge – Jaan Mein Dum (Dum, 2003)
“For the song featuring Vivek Oberoi, we needed a beautiful river bed and wanted him to ride a bike there. We found such a place in the Rann of Kutch and went there in a chopper. However, while shooting we didn’t realise when we crossed the Line of Control (LoC), and from India, ventured into no man’s land. We could hear shelling around that area. We were immediately told by the pilot to get out of there. We did get the shots we needed, but it was scary,” Hedge recalled.
